Survivor: Ghost Island Premiere Goes Wild With Idols As Usual...But Spookier This Time

Survivor has been a lot of things over 35 seasons, but this is the first time it has felt truly creepy.

OK, it's not actually creepy, but maybe spooky? The name Ghost Island, at the very least, is very spooky. It is also the name of a Scooby Doo movie that should definitely exist but appears not to.

The concept of Ghost Island is that all of the idols and advantages were previously found by contestants on other seasons, but never used or used poorly, are haunted, but can regain their power based on the decisions of the current contestants.

There's also an actual island, or at least a different beach, called Ghost Island, which is basically a cemetery of Survivor past. Survivors get sent there when their tribe loses immunity and the other tribe chooses them to bypass tribal council, and sometimes they get prizes, like Jacob. Sometimes, they get nothing but a night alone, like Donathan.

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Superfan Jacob was the first to experience Ghost Island (because he acted like an idiot on purpose to get sent there), and he found last season's Legacy advantage, which was an immunity idol that could only be played when there were 13 or six players left in the game. Sierra found it on day one but wasted it when she told Sarah it existed.

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Unfortunately for Jacob, he didn't get to use it, but he did get to send it to someone from the other tribe. Also unfortunately for Jacob, he made the weird decision to come back pretending he won a normal immunity idol for himself, which his tribemates definitely didn't buy. Also unfortunately for Jacob, he also told tribemate Stephanie about his fake idol and the advantage he sent to Morgan. And finally, unfortunately for Jacob, he came out of the gate playing real hard and real annoying, especially while declaring his tribe the greatest tribe Survivor has ever seen, based on no evidence. He got voted out in the second tribal council, but at least he made his limited time on this show memorable?

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Meanwhile, on the immunity-winning Naviti, Domenick found an actual idol, but then made a fake idol and paired it with the note from the actual idol to trick fellow tribemate Chris, explaining that if Chris feels he needs it, he can have it.

The point of this plan was unclear, because Chris still knows Domenick has an idol even if he doesn't know what the real idol looks like, and why would anyone offer anyone else their idol unless it was not a real idol? Whatever. Hopefully whatever he's planning still works for him when the tribes switch next episode.

Speaking of which, somehow it already feel just about time for a switch after two hours and two tribal councils. It also feels like February has been a whole year long, so maybe that feeling is not Survivor's fault.